performed on the exact same “line”
running parallel to the runway, roughly

150 meters (500 feet) out from where
you stand:
At a contest, you’ll have a caller to
remind you what comes next (and
ideally offer some gentle guidance), but
if you don’t have a buddy to call you
through the maneuvers when you are
practicing, it’s pretty quick to memorize
and practice one five-maneuver
segment at a time until you can string it
all together from memory.

The Finer Points

Many people look at the Sportsman
sequence and think, “That’s really easy!”
Indeed, performing any individual
maneuver isn’t really “hard” on the
face of it, but what separates the top
competitors from everyone else is

precision.

I am running out of space so I’ll
begin with only the takeoff. Because
everyone has to take off, no matter
what kind of plane you have, it’s the
perfect introduction to what I mean
by focusing on the finer details and
precision. We’ll look at the rest of the
sequence in a subsequent article.

I often see Sportsman pilots take off
approximately 6 feet from where they
were placed on the runway, jamming
the throttle stick to full from a standing
start on the runway (generally causing a
pronounced yaw to the left) and leaping
into the air at a 60° to 80° angle like a
Patriot missile on an intercept course
with an approaching Scud missile.

That’s not a takeoff. It’s a departure and
will earn you some pretty low scores!

Begin with the airplane centered
on the runway and downwind of the
centerline, defined by where you are
standing. Announce your takeoff and
bring the throttle up gently and work
the rudder to prevent yawing as the
airplane gains speed. On a tail-dragger,
you should have enough speed that the
tail comes up off of the ground as you
approach the space directly in front of
you.